Brutal Legend magazine scans

[Thrik]

I don't think there's much to discuss here. The very presence of gore in a game clearly makes the two of you think there's a lack of creativity, so nothing but the final game is liable to change that. I'm sure you will end up liking the final thing, though. What kind of nutbag doesn't like a Schafer game?

I do think it's a daft opinion, though. Anyone could have said Full Throttle was just trying to be cool and edgy, and in fact people who had just come from Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle probably did. Adults, that is -- not us kids.

[Nappi]

I'm just saying: look at the flowers in Grim Fandango (a game which has considerably darker undertones), and look at the blood in Brutal Legend (or any other game for that matter), and tell me honestly which is more artfully and creatively done.

Grim Fandango way is more artful and creative for sure. But to be fair, the game is set in the Land of the Dead which is unlike our traditional world in many ways. All of the people there are skeletons and dead already, for one. Brütal Legend, although set in a non-traditional environment, doesn't change things as much. Therefore, in my opinion, there is no justification for changing blood and guts into motor oil and guitar strings (or something that's actually creative). The game is basically set in this world (albeit in an alternative history).

As for the violence itself.. There might not be that many heavy metal covers with severed limbs and rivers of blood in them, but the violence is very much present in everything heavy metal. I can't even count all the metal album covers I have seen that have an axe, a sword or something else that's sharp and lethal in them. And while axes don't kill people (rockers do), I don't think they are there with wood cutting in mind. Large number of metal songs have to do with wars, killing and plain good old-fashioned violence too. As It has been said a thousand times already, a heavy metal game with no violence wouldn't be a heavy metal game at all. The violence can't be handled that artfully either in this case. As Schafer himself said, if hitting someone with a giant axe didn't result in decapitation, it would almost seem like there is a bug in the game.

I don't think that Double Fine should try to make everything in a different or "better" way than other companies just because they are Double Fine. Being different just for the sake of being different, will potentially only alienate players. To me, replacing violence (or resulting blood and gore, whichever bothers the most) with something else in Brütal Legend is much like saying "Ok, so this is a land of heavy metal, but in this land the electric guitars have been replaced with harmonicas. This is still very much a heavy metal game."

Double Fine hasn't always tried to be different either. For instance, there was lots of collecting in Psychonauts, something that some people find most annoying in platformers. It wasn't even as rewarding as in some other games, and they could probably have replaced it with something more creative. The fact that they didn't, didn't bother me at all, as I was so concentrated on everything else they did so well.

[Noyb]

Double Fine hasn't always tried to be different either. For instance, there was lots of collecting in Psychonauts, something that some people find most annoying in platformers. It wasn't even as rewarding as in some other games, and they could probably have replaced it with something more creative. The fact that they didn't, didn't bother me at all, as I was so concentrated on everything else they did so well.

From the results of me wanting to collect everything, I think they somehow made it rewarding. Or maybe that's just my love of the game talking. Regardless, they did have a few neat twists in the collecting. The figments being drawings representing parts of the characters' psyche was a nice touch. The vaults rewarding exploration with backstory go along the same lines, as do the mental baggage having a secondary reward of concept art.

[Nappi]

Agreed, collecting mental vaults and emotional baggage was rewarding. However, getting all the figments is something that I will probably never even try (especially now that I know that the reward for completing the game 100% is nothing special). Even the scavenger hunt felt a bit dull to me..

[vimes]

Well, it seems I was partly misunderstood ... when I wrote I was sad DoubleFine was going for gore, I didn't mean that I was sad they were making violence their core gameplay(1). What disappointed me was that among all the known and unknown graphical representations of violence, gore was the one they chose. it doesn't stand out as a particularly sophisticated design choice. And, as always, I would be glad to be proven wrong by DF.

I hate it to be so, but maybe this is a rhetorical argument in the end.

(1) Well, seeing DF producing a very violent game was kind of a let down, actually.

[LOPcagney]

I don't think there's much to discuss here. The very presence of gore in a game clearly makes the two of you think there's a lack of creativity,

The funniest thing is usually I'm not the conservative one when it comes to blood and guts in games.

I love Bioshock, Half-Life 2, Alice, even Quake 4 (despite middling reviews) and countless others. So no.

[sphaloman]

Never really heard about this game but I just watched a video and must say this game looks bad ass. That game sure does have a lot of blood hopefully the gameplay will be good.

[Noyb]

Never really heard about this game but I just watched a video and must say this game looks bad ass. That game sure does have a lot of blood hopefully the gameplay will be good.

If you want to fit in around here, buy Psychonauts. And by buy, I mean buy off of Steam or Gametap or Double Fine's official site or that Xbox 1 marketplace that's going to be in the new 360 update, not steal. Then you'll see why we're excited about Brutal Legends for reasons other than the x-treme trailer.

[miffy495]

Yeah, that Xbox 1 marketplace thing makes me giddy. Mostly for Fable and Crimson Skies. Fable because it's one of the few games on their list I don't already own, Crimson Skies because though I own it, it isn't on the BC list yet. This gives me hope that it will be on there soon.

[ThunderPeel2001]

That's really cool! Yay!

[Nachimir]

Fable: The Lost Chapters is really worth a go, it's beautiful. I think I enjoyed it more than most because I avoided any and all hype over it.

[Thrik]

Yes, I also think Fable: TLC is a game of superb quality. Again, probably helped by total hype avoidance. It exceeded my expectations, even if not they weren't the lofty ones from the Molyneux factory.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Same here. Really beautiful little game. Not amazing, some silly things I didn't like, but I still hugely enjoyed it. I'm glad I missed the Molyneux hype as, as I've said before (! remember that insane thread that no-one seemed to be able to get their heads around? !), I think it only does more harm than good.

Looking forward to Fable 2!

[LOPcagney]

Does anyone know if there's any talk of this coming to PC?

[Nappi]

Does anyone know if there's any talk of this coming to PC?

I haven't seen anyone at Double Fine commenting on the possible PC version at all, apart from DF forum administrator Info Cow who, back in October, said:

No one has announced that there would not be a PC version.

No one knows what the future may or not hold.

Not even me.

Now, shhhhh.

[twmac]

Yeah, that Xbox 1 marketplace thing makes me giddy. Mostly for Fable and Crimson Skies. Fable because it's one of the few games on their list I don't already own, Crimson Skies because though I own it, it isn't on the BC list yet. This gives me hope that it will be on there soon.

Crimsons Skies is fully backwards compatible and I've played it a few times already, doesn't suffer from lag and bugs that some of the other BC titles suffer during emulation (damn you Fuzion Frenzy).